Hoverboard and Volocopter

It's the Green Goblin! This is really cool.



And an electric helicopter. Genius.

Klay Thompson kneed in head

Man, it's getting dangerous to play basketball these days.



I haven't seen something like that since Bruce Bowen karate kicked Wally Sczerbiak.



Stephen Curry took a nasty tumble as well.



Maybe that's why everybody in the NBA is wearing mouth guards these days.

Grandpa gaga

Scrappers and Scrapper

Tampa bridge jump

Steve Trotter went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Then he tried to swing off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa, ending in disaster. Skip to the 7:00 mark for the jump.

Just remember, pe=mgh.

All these time travel movies - how do you get back to the exact spot

I enjoy watching time travel movies, but one thing always bothered me. If you go back in time, wouldn't you go back in time in the exact point in space at where you're at in the future?

In the movies the time traveler always ends up at the spot on earth where they were.

But the earth has rotated many times in the meantime, the earth has rotated around the sun, the sun has moved millions of miles. How would you get back to the exact spot in space? Even the rotation of the earth varies day by day.

I guess I should just sit back, enjoy the show and stop thinking so much.

Seven Person Boat Crash

"The driver of the boat suffered moderate injuries and a blow to his wallet as well. He’s being cited for speeding and imprudent operation of the boat. Five of the seven people on board were hospitalized, four of them with moderate injuries including broken bones."


Let's be safe out there guys. If you listen to the audio, at the 6:05 mark it sounds like they say "get rid of these beers." Before the crash, it looks like nobody is having a good time.

http://fox2now.com/2012/09/05/police-hope-people-learn-lesson-from-ozark-boat-crash-viral-video/

52 cars at the bottom of the sea

Here's a new game: 52 car pick up. It's hard to watch the "car"nage.

Active Suspension on a Boat

The Nauti-craft active suspension boat.

Dellavedova

http://furtherreview.blog.ajc.com/2015/05/26/a-hawks-nemesis-emerges-dellavedova/

I'm not sure that it was worth injuring Korver with the extra lunge when your team is already up by 17 points at 81-64? And the body language at the 0:22 mark.

Top international rankings by country

Wikipedia has a page for the "top international rankings by country."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_top_international_rankings_by_country

This makes fascinating browsing.

Here's some interesting facts from this page:

China Largest car market, 13.64 million vehicles
China Largest exporter, $1,200,000,000,000

Denmark Most equal income distribution according to UN
Denmark Best knowledge of English according to EF English Proficiency Index
Denmark Highest satisfaction with life according to Satisfaction with Life Index, 273.4

Finland Highest prosperity according to Legatum Prosperity Index

United States Largest oil consumer, 20,680,000 bbl/day
United States Largest oil importer, 13,710,000 bbl/day

China is now the number 2 film market in the world

I was perusing the box office receipts for Jupiter Ascending on box office mojo, and it has only generated $47 million in the US. But if you look at the foreign box office, it has made $44 million in China. Very surprising.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/hollywood-zooms-in-on-china-film-market

China has passed Japan for #2, and China's box office revenue is expected to pass the US in 2020.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/nov/29/china-biggest-film-market-2020

http://chinafilmbiz.com/2012/07/08/chinas-box-office-an-excellent-2012-so-far/

http://chinafilmbiz.com/

Classic Japanese Isuzu Commercials

My favorites are the ones with the Isuzu Geminis flying through the air.



http://www.windingroad.com/articles/blogs/friday-video-isuzu-gemini-ads-were-driving-masterpieces/

Weirdest car colors

"What happens when automaker execs huff a lot of paint? Colors like Plum Crazy happen. Here are the ten strangest color names to ever grace a car."

http://jalopnik.com/the-ten-weirdest-car-color-names-1573977708

And if you like TVR Reflex, here's some of that ChromaFlair paint on youtube.

People and their cars look alike

People and their pets look alike, and the same goes for their cars

http://phys.org/news/2014-09-people-pets-alike-cars.html

Epson dot matrix font

I was looking through my Epson JX-80 manuals and they had really nice diagrams of the dot matrix font.

So I thought I'd reproduce the font, writing a QBasic editor to assist me. In copying the font I really appreciate all of the work and design that went into making characters that look good. You really notice these things when you are plotting every dot. Maybe I'll upload the program after I clean it up a little.

I like that authentic "dot matrix" look.

Computer rappers

Ray Kurzweil wrote a program that would generate classical music. How long before someone would write a program that would rap, yo?

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/537716/machine-learning-algorithm-mines-rap-lyrics-then-writes-its-own/

Generic Brand Video

http://time.com/37494/this-generic-brand-video-parody-is-about-nothing-and-everything-and-is-thus-perfection/

Quantum of the Seas North Star

Royal Caribbean's got a new ship with a new attraction, the North Star. It's an observation pod at the end of an arm that suspends you up to 300 feet in the air.

According to http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/01/26/north-star-review-royal-caribbeans-quantum-of-the-seas
, "North Star moves quite slowly and despite the 300 plus foot statistic, it's hardly a thrill ride."



When I look at this giant crane arm, I think of that scene in the movie Moonraker with the centrifuge.

Marble Madness Master

This guy is amazing at the game Marble Madness. I would never figure out those shortcuts in a million years.

Gateway Anykey keyboard and KVM switch

I like to use more than one computer and switch between them with my KVM switch. It uses ScrollLock ScrollLock UpArrow to switch from one port to another. So I thought, it'd sure be nice to have a keyboard that was designed specifically to do the KVM switching. Then I remembered an old PS/2 Gateway Anykey Keyboard that I had which could be programmed with macros. After scanning the internet for instructions on how to program the Anykey. (Ctrl+program_macro, f9 scroll scroll up program_macro) I got the F9 key in the lower left programmed for Scroll,Scroll,Up and ba-da-bing-ba-da-boom it works!

I'm surprised someone hasn't dissected these Anykey keyboards and figured out how to program them with software on a computer. There were some DOS programs from Gateway that could download the anykey macros and restore them from a file.

Billionaires' basements in London

"It is the most densely populated borough in the country, with no room to build outwards, and no permission to build upwards – so the only way is down."

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/nov/09/billionaires-basements-london-houses-architecture

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2228782/David-Grahams-4-storey-Knightsbridge-mansion-entirely-underground.html

Why you shouldn't buy a small car

Small cars get better gas mileage, but nothing is worth serious injury. I'd rather have some mass to my car for protection.

Rocket Ranger

Oh man, did I love this game back in the day. The ending was definitely worth it. I remember how much I liked the music.



They're trying to do a remake, but I don't know if it can really recapture the magic classic feel of the original Rocket Ranger.

Chevrolet Miray concept looks like the batmobile

Chevrolet Miray concept aims at crazed librarians


http://www.cnet.com/news/chevrolet-miray-concept-aims-at-crazed-librarians/

It Came From The Desert

This was such a great game on the Amiga. I never figured it out without the help of an article in a magazine that told you how to beat it. I always thought you were supposed to avoid the car in the game of chicken and I'd always end up in the hospital.

The Insanity Virus

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun/03-the-insanity-virus

"If our DNA were an airplane carry-on bag (and essentially it is), it would be bursting at the seams. We lug around 100,000 retro­virus sequences inside us; all told, genetic parasites related to viruses account for more than 40 percent of all human DNA."

Dell laptop ac adapter unknown device

I got an old dell laptop without a power supply, and found a PA-10 replacement adapter (non-dell) and the laptop won't charge. So the bios reports an "unknown device" for the ac adapter. Why? Dell has a little DRM chip to identify the ac adapter.

Guess I'll have to get the real PA-10 or PA-12...

http://www.laptop-junction.com/toast/content/inside-dell-ac-power-adapter-mystery-revealed

http://www.hardwarebanter.com/showthread.php?t=161563

Red Auerbach on how to gain a competitive edge

The Case for Cheating, from an NBA Great

"Auerbach turned to life lessons. "Everybody always asks me how to gain a competitive edge," he said, "and I'm always surprised because the answer is so obvious." Eighteen-year old me knew where this was going. He was going to tell us to work hard, that successful people prepare for their luck, yada, yada, yada.
"You cheat."


http://www.esquire.com/sports/news/a27271/red-auerbach-cheating/

Watching the numbers tick

It's interesting to watch the population numbers increase in real time.

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

Avengers Annual #10 (1981)

One of the best comics of all time, IMO. Great art and story, what more could you ask for? Michael Golden did the pencils and colors, Armando Gil the inks. They took comic book art and storytelling to new heights. When you compare this work to the average comic book of the 1980s, it just blows it away.

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/12/21/comics-you-should-own-flashback-avengers-annual-10/

When Exxon wanted to be the next Apple

This is an interesting footnote in computing history.

"The result was that Zilog was shut out of future IBM collaborations, which, for a designer of microcontrollers, is bad news."

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/when-exxon-wanted-to-be-a-personal-computing-revolutionary

Future Tank Amiga

I always loved the intro music for this game. Addictive game too.

Magnetic Ride

Here's an active suspension system that uses magnetic particles to vary the viscosity of the fluid inside the piston.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagneRide

My philosophy on driving

My philosophy on driving is this: I don't like hard starts or hard stops. I feel that if you're starting hard or stopping hard, you're doing it wrong. Smooth is better.

One of the things I hate is to have to slam on my brakes. If I exceed the speed limit, when I hit a yellow light I have to hit the brakes really hard. So I prefer to go the speed limit. And my passengers appreciate it.

I have precious cargo in my car: my family. It's my responsibility as driver to get to our destination safely. I try to reduce risk by not taking unnecessary risks. I'd rather be patient than have an accident. Safety is the number one priority.

It's often little things that make the difference, like pausing for a second after the light turns green and looking left before you enter the intersection. I've nearly been wiped out by cross traffic coming through late. If I'd jumped out I would've been T-Boned. You never know when it's coming.

You really remove your margin for error when you drive aggressively. It's just not worth it.

Lin Yu Chun

Lin Yu Chun has the amazing ability to imitate both Celine Dion and Whitney Houston.

The Ewing Conspiracy

"In the beginning, before the talk of frozen envelopes and creased corners and all the rest, the first NBA draft lottery had a simple goal: Stop Donald Sterling."

http://www.si.com/longform/2015/1985/ewing/

My philosophy in a nutshell

Don't ever get sick.

Don't ever get hurt.

Don't ever get weak.

Don't ever give up.

The Death Ray Hotel

Curvy architecture looks great but can concentrate the sun's rays. The Vdara hotel in Las Vegas is known as the "Death Ray Hotel." The hotel's management prefers to call it a "solar convergence phenomenon."

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/las-vegas-hotel-pool-sunlight-swimming-tourists/story?id=11739234

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2013/sep/03/walkie-talkie-death-ray-buildings-heat

Why people don't go to the movies

http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/ill-tell-you-why-movie-revenue-is-dropping

One of the last times I went to the movies, someone had a laser pointer and was lighting up the screen.

Big O Notation, big numbers and the planet

The thing about exponential growth is that at some point, the numbers start growing very large. It starts off slowly, and then at a certain threshold, the graph starts going vertical.

It reminds me of big O notation in computer science. It doesn't really matter what the "constant" is, the important thing to pay attention to is how fast the required computation time grows. You've got an algorithm that grows at n squared time, it doesn't really matter what the constant multiplier is. The growth in n squared will reduce the constant multiplier to insignificance.

You look at the earth and it's really a finite resource. The earth is huge but finite. Exponential growth will always start running up against hard limits. We've got 7 billion people now and I wonder if the earth can support the people and the lifestyles and the attitudes we have now.

It doesn't really matter what the "constant" is with our exponential growth. It's not a question of if but when. And we're quibbling about when these things will happen.

We can see the signs everywhere. Look at the oceans. Fish stocks in the ocean are disappearing. Fleets of factory trawlers running 365/24/7. The prophetic movie Soylent Green revolved around the "secret" of the oceans dying. It's just a matter of time now before there is a massive collapse.

http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/06/12/the-end-of-the-line/

Does it really matter if the collapse happens in 2100 or 2050? It's just a few short decades away.

When Cars Attack

I remember this show that aired back in 1997 with Richard Belzer called "When Cars Attack." It was a mock documentary that investigated numerous instances of cars suddenly becoming aggressive and out of control.

Supposedly there was this illegitimate son of a well known car industralist and a mysterious component called the "hydrosolator."

The show was ridiculous, but still amusing and memorable. Richard Belzer did a great job of delivering it with a straight face. I probably remember it being better than it was.

"I guess the hydrosolator's acting up again"

Good advice

I never will forget what this guy told me once:

"If you get mad at stupid people, you're going to be mad all the time"

Is this what those gas cartridges are used for?

I always wondered why I keep seeing these cartridges lying about the street. I didn't know what they were for. Seems that they are nitrous oxide cartridges. What is the matter with people?

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/13/brick-lane-is-the-uks-laughing-gas-megastore-but-for-how-long

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/dangerous-teen-craze-whip-making-comeback/story?id=16006130

Pareto principle for air pollution

http://ecosalon.com/25-percent-of-cars-cause-90-percent-of-air-pollution-study-finds/

Ford GT with 2.7 miles

The ultimate garage queen.

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/bp/this-ford-gt-has-fewer-miles-than-you-walk-in-a-day-%E2%80%94-and-a-huge-price-153215997.html

Terminator Genisys trailer

This looks interesting. I always liked the Terminator movies.

Here's an "Active" Suspension

Saying no to new cars

http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/saying-no-to-new-cars/

Electromagnetic Active Suspension System

"Since the suspension system has a high bandwidth, it can even function as a speaker"



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ1eKddstxM#t=2m30

Bose Active Suspension

This would be so awesome.

Home team loss makes crashes go up

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/sr/statusreport/article/50/1/2

There are no more bad cars?

I've heard it said that there are no more bad cars.


http://www.auto123.com/en/news/is-there-really-such-a-thing-as-a-bad-car/47586/

Some people think that there IS still such a thing as a bad car.

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/road-cars/opinions/there-is-such-a-thing-as-a-bad-car/

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/01/editorial-still-bad-cars-youll-never-hear/

Maybe there's no such thing as a bad car but bad designs...like gun slit windows for example.

http://benmlee.com/4Runner/StupidCardesigns.htm

Which brings me to a bigger question: with all of our technology and progress, there should be no more BAD anything.

Is makeup cheating?

Since we put so much of a premium on looks, is it surprising that cosmetics is a major industry? According to http://www.statista.com/topics/1008/cosmetics-industry/ the United States is the biggest cosmetic market in the world, with an estimated total revenue of about 54.89 billion U.S. dollars.

It's pretty shocking to see what stars look like without makeup. They look just like everybody else.

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-beauty/pictures/stars-without-makeup-20122410/31634

Battlestar Galacti-Car

http://jalopnik.com/5510077/battlestar-galacti-car-the-street-legal-viper

A Colonial Viper to do street battle with the Toyota 4-Runner.

Death proof cars?

I'm not sure that Quentin Tarantino would be able to make a movie about these cars...

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/bp/death-proof-cars--study-finds-nine-models-with-zero-driver-fatalities-190624666.html

That's a lot of G-5s

http://www.tmz.com/2015/05/03/mayweather-pacquaio-fight-private-jets-airport/

Used to be an NBA fan

I used to be a huge NBA fan. Somehow I just can't get excited about the NBA playoffs anymore. I think all those years of LeBron and the Heat killed it for me. Maybe it was Dwayne Wade. They're just not fun to watch.

Maybe it was all those years of questionable refereeing (2002 western conference finals) I get a kick out of this guy's idea of "The Stern Button."

The Fiat That Ate A Lamborghini

The Fiat 500 Murcielago

http://www.speedhunters.com/2014/01/murcialago-mix-up-the-fiat-that-ate-a-lamborghini/

How far to Mickey D's?

Here's a cool map, showing the distance to the nearest McDonald's restaurant, courtesy of datapointed.net.

http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/maps/distance-to-nearest-mcdonalds/

http://www.datapointed.net/2009/09/distance-to-nearest-mcdonalds/

Don LaFontaine Trailer Mashup

Roller coaster bridge

Better have good brakes!

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/this-crazy-bridge-in-japan-looks-more-like-a-terrifying-1701569629

Bring back bench seats

One thing I like about my car is that it has bench seats in the front. With a center console, I feel claustrophobic. It's also nice to have some room to turn your body so you can see when you are backing up.

Sadly, the 2013 Impala is the last bench seat available...

Sometimes older cars are better in that you have more room. Column shift FTW!


http://jalopnik.com/5939826/why-the-death-of-the-bench-seat-is-a-sad-thing-for-car-lovers

https://www.cars.com/articles/2012/04/2014-chevy-impala-marks-end-of-front-bench-seats-in-cars/


And what if you're plus size?

http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/top-10/top-10-vehicles-for-obese-drivers-for-2013.html